Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1887-09-22
PRETTY SHOP GIRLS.
An Interesting sight on Lower Broad
way when they are Out In Force.

| An Interesting Sight on Lower Broad
way when they are Out I'm Force.
A New York correspondent of The
Indianapolis NeWs writes: 1t is a
pleasure to walk up Broadway from
Chambers to Blocker street any bright
| afternoon from $50 to to 6 o'clock
Nearly every one of the big buildings
| within those limits has factories one very
door, where hundreds and thousands
of girls are employed in making cloth
ing, undcrware, neckties, cloaks, fancy
boxes and other articles of luxury and
necessity. Pretty much all of them are
between the ages of II and 25. BY the
time they are 25 they are either mar
ricd or swept away, no one knows
where. Most of these factories close
at $50 and the girls hurry on their
wraps and start for home. and great
number of them live in Brooklyn and
New Jersey, where board and lodging
is much cheaper than in New York,
and so they walk down Broadway to
the ferries. They are as handsome a
set of girls as can be found anywhere.
Like nearly all American women, they
have the knack of dressing becomingly.
and their trim and shapely figures are
shown of to good advantage They do
not look disconnected. il bright and
cheerful faces are any criterion, and they
chatter merrily as they pass aloag
two or three at time. They have the
independent bearing of girls who know
they earn their own living and are not
dependent OH any man for support.
Some of the prettiest are accom-
panied by young men-perhaps some
of the clerks who have taken a
fancy to them. Nearly all of them
have been pupils in the public
schools. They read the newspapers
! and talk cleverly. A vast amount OF
rot is printed about them, but in point
of fact they are rs jolly and contented
a lot of young women as can be found
! elsewhere in the world. There is a
great cutlery on the part OF theatrical,
short-haired and atmospheric philan-
thropists, at times, because factory and
shop girls do not give up their employ
ment and seek homes as servants in up
town families. The girl knows what
she is about. The bedraggled maid Of
all work, nagged by silky mistress,
abused by horde of snappy children,
and saddled with thousand cares, has
one night out week, when she has
an opportunity to be courted by the
coachman or the hostler. The work.
| ing girl is her own mistress absolutely
from the time she leaves the factory at
6 o'clock in the evening until she re-
turns at the following morning Hel
Independence is abolute, and during
her hours of freedom she is rs much q
lady as the wife of the President. She
visits her friends and receives the call:
of men who are by no means to be de-
spised in the matrimonial market. A
great and welcome change has come
over public opinion respecting women
who have the courage, faith and energy
to go out in the world and make them
selves the arbiters of their own futures
instead of moping at home, n burden
to the friends and trial to their rel
atives. That workingwomen command
in many instances the h CHEST respect
cannot be denied by any man who has
an intimate knowledge of New York
life. There are ladies of high culture,
fin shed accomplishments and many
| graccs of mind and person.in the board
lighthouses of New York who are the
popular leaders of little social circles
despite the fact that they are employed
during the day. There are grades O
labor, and women have learned to lool
the world in the face and fight for TIT
best fields.